I actually found a lot of this play funny, but a conversation between Helena and Demetrius particularly made me laugh.
(II:i:204-210)-I am your spaniel; and, Demetrius, The more you beat me, I will fawn on you. Use me but as your spaniel, spurn me, strike me, Unworthy as I am, to follow you. What worser place can I beg in your love, And yet a place of high respect with me, Than to be used as you use your dog?
Ok, so basically translated to today's slang terms, Helena is saying that if he gets with her she will be his 'bitch'. She is offering to do anything for him, she will wait on him hand and foot, she would be completely and entirely his 'bitch'. And the more he shits on her, the more she will be sprung on him. I don't know if anyone else found this funny, but the maybe the reason this particularly hit me is because I think this is very relevant to today. Many women are just as stupid and stick with men who treat them horribly, and welcome the abuse. And I'm sure many people can say they've known women that put up with abuse from men, and you ask them "Why do you stay with them? Why can't you just leave them?" They agree with you about the fact that they should leave, yet they won't and don't have a good excuse about why they stay. I think Helena provides the reason she puts up with this abuse from Demetrius and the reason is included in Act 1, scene 2, lines 234-239 when she says 'Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind; And therefore is wing'd Cupid painted blind. Nor hath Love's mind of any judgment taste;...' She is saying that she really has no clue why she is in love with him but she loves him. Today's translation of that would be 'head over heels,' and I would venture to guess that many people can relate to what Helena is going through to at least to a certain extent.
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While Helena and the other women in Shakespeare’s plays are usually shown as weak and inferior to men, Lady Macbeth is depicted as a strong and influential force on her husband in Macbeth. Ultimately it is Lady Macbeth’s insinuations that Macbeth would not be a true man if he didn’t take advantage of his present situation( his ability to gain complete power through the murder of the present king, who was staying at their house that very night) that pushed Macbeth into complete acceptance of the witches prophecies’… because Macbeth is a man and doesn’t want to be perceived as anything “less” (an ironic insinuation coming from a woman) he is then convinced that it is his duty/ right to kill Duncan and gain power…and that brings him back full circle to the witches prophecy that he will become King. So as soon as Macbeth goes back to his castle his wife’s manipulations cause Macbeth to reaffirm that the witches prophecies will come true, and from that point on he is ultimately confined by his perception of that fate. Although Lady Macbeth does end up going crazy in the end and committing suicide like Ophelia, in the beginning of the play, her actions and behavior are those that are usually associated with men…even saying “unsex me now”
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